Dreamland is also somewhat of a love letter to Margate – which was also celebrated in the Sam Mendes directed film Empire of Light starring Olivia Colman and Colin Firth – and features excellent cameos from local legendary drag queens, including Dame Jame while also making fun of the ‘Down From London’ hipsters who have descended on the town in recent years.
Ending on a cliffhanger, Dreamland is poised for a second series and Lily has said that she would love to return to Margate to film more if it’s commissioned. In the meantime, however, following Lily’s West End debut in 2:22 A Ghost Story in 2021, she will be treading the boards once again in London this summer, starring in the award-winning play The Pillowman.
For the latest episode of GLAMOUR Unfiltered, Lily talks music, MeToo, mental health and marriage to Stranger Things actor, David Harbour.
You’re known for your music career, but you’ve recently turned to acting. Why?
Well, yes, I have been a singer for, I don’t know, 15, 20 years maybe. And I don’t think I’m very good at that anymore. Yeah. I find it really hard writing in this current political climate maybe. And I still love performing and I still love playing with stories, telling stories and making sense of humanity on some level. And acting enables me to do that, but not have to take responsibility for the words or the subject matter. I’ve just absolved myself.
I have a sister, actually I have quite a few sisters, but one on my mum’s side who I grew up with. And we lean on each other a lot. We’ve had our ups and downs and have definitely had periods of time where we haven’t been so close. But we are in a pretty good place now.
There’s a conversation between the sisters and their mum, when Melanie’s just returned from Paris and Cheryl [the mother] says ‘all you lot are obsessed with confidence’. What makes you feel confident?
I guess, the thing that makes me feel confident, I guess, that’s I have confidence in two different areas of my life, professionally and at home. And I guess, my children thriving and both of them being happy makes me feel confidence. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job correctly. And I guess, maybe in work and professionally, good hair and makeup, style, awards make me feel confident [laughing] or just the nominations are enough actually. So yeah, award nominations!
I guess, I’ve done a bit of stage acting recently, a couple of years ago I did a play in the West End [2:22 A Ghost Story]. And I think when you can see that the audience are really engaged and having a great time, well, not necessarily a great time, but just engaged and engrossed in whatever it is you are doing, yeah, that feels really empowering.